Saturday night dinner

Just an aside, I heard from Williams Sonoma today. Remember my confusion as to why Eat Well was always rinsing onions. They answered and said it makes them less pungent. I learned something new today.


Due to the snow storm our guests had to postpone until tomorrow. This will seem funny to those of you in the north, but some have not even seen a plow as of 8:00 PM tonight, even though we had about 2 “ by 10:00 AM. This was the amount predicted for the whole day, but we got more. So what did we eat tonight? We had another Bon Appetite dish called Salmon Salad with Fennel, Orange and Mint. If you don’t know what fennel is and your green grocer looks at you cross eyed, use the word Anise. What you get when you buy fennel bulbs in the US is both. The bulb is the fennel and the ferns on top are the anise when left to go to seed.  Bon Appetite says I am wrong, and that the grocers are wrong when they are labeling it anise. I am not going to argue with them, but I grew up in farm country.

Ingredients for Salmon Salad from Bon Appétit, January, 2010 p. 50

¼ c sugar

¼ c unseasoned, rice vinegar

2 whole star anise, Chinese spice not the same as anise

4c cold water

1-1# salmon fillet

2 navel oranges (I again used the blood oranges my friend sent for Christmas)

2 bulbs of fennel, about 4 c sliced

1 c fresh mint leaves

2T olive oil

I chose to make this recipe as I was really interested in the method for cooking the salmon. The salmon in the photo just looked so good. Also I love fennel.

Cooking the salmon.

Place sugar, vinegar, star anise (not the tops of the fennel bulb, but a Chinese herb) and 4 cups of water in a deep skillet that has a lid. Bring to a boil over high heat stirring until the sugar dissolves. If you are on a diet and don’t want to use sugar, use Splenda as it is one to one. You could also use Agave Nectar instead of sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat and place the salmon into the skillet. Cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 10 minutes. Turn it over in the liquid, still off the heat, and let stand for 6 minutes. Remove from the liquid and flake in large chunks. Add to the following mixture:

While the salmon was cooking in the water, I cut up the oranges, sliced the fennel and took all the mint leaves off the stems. I put all this in a large bowl with the 2 T of olive oil. After we sat down, I said this needs salt and pepper. Rereading, I see the words at the end of the recipe say salt and pepper to taste.

This was a difficult meal for Jim to wrap his mind around. He had brought up a Herman Wente Reserve Chardonnay for dinner. First look at the dish, he said I am not serving this with onions. Jim, it is not onion, it is fennel and you like fennel. We sat down to dinner. First words from Jim were this salmon is very good, but I haven’t touched the other stuff. I answered that you should eat all the parts together, and it is good, but it needs salt and pepper. Finally he said, “This is good for fennel, spinach, and salmon, although I am having trouble wrapping my mind around the looks of the combination. “ I answered that was probably because it is mint, not spinach, like it is fennel and not onion. How someone can reach 65 years old with all the meals I have fixed and still be so clueless is beyond me.

Friday night pizza

This is probably the only original recipe that I will ever post. This is my go to when I am tired. Today was very busy. My trainer comes on Friday and I had a million errands to run for both food and art class. I think we are having company for dinner tomorrow, but while in the Opera House Gourmet buying wine, I got a call from our guests saying we are having snow tomorrow. My answer was really, so bring your pj’s. We will see tomorrow, but remember, we are south of the Mason Dixon line and contrary to real life, they do not believe it snows here.


So tonight we had Linda’s shrimp pizza. When we moved to CA, we were introduced to California Pizza kitchen. This was the first time I was aware that pizza was more than sausage, mushrooms, and cheese. I fell in love with their shrimp pizza. When we moved to Pleasanton from Mountain View ,there was not one near.  They published a cookbook, but their recipe was a lot to do on a Friday night after a 4 hour commute and 8 hour work day. So I started working on a quick version. I pulled out the CA Pizza Kitchen cookbook and found the following note on the original recipe.  Jim's favorite pizza to date, 3-16-1996.  Here it is.

I buy a thin crust Boboli pizza crust. Of course, you can use whatever one you want. I only put about ¼ c of tomato pizza sauce on it as we are not fond of tomato yuck on our pizza. On top of this I put pre-sliced portabella mushrooms. About a 6-7 oz. package will cover all the crust. I cook a half pound of large shrimp, which I have always kept in the freezer. Cut them in half so they still look like shrimp but are thin, then sprinkle them on top of the mushrooms. On top of this I pile on fresh spinach. Then on top of this the cheese. I used 2 cups of pre-grated mozzarella and I C of mixed pizza cheese, but not the one with cheddar in it. I have a pizza stone that has been preheating in the oven at 450 degrees. Pop it in for 15 to 20 minutes. Jim likes his cheese browned, not burnt, so we did the whole 20 minutes. I did not time myself tonight, but I think heating the oven to the end is easily a 30 minute meal. It is faster than ordering out. This recipe serves 4-6 except in this house. Jim cuts it in 4 pieces and eats 3.

Jim served a 2008 Fairvalley Pinotage from near Paarl, South Africa, the Coastal Region. Pinotage is a cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsault.

Today I got a call from a friend who asked, “Your recipes serve 4 to 6; don’t you end up with a lot of leftovers? Not really; if Jim doesn’t eat it, we feed it to Max. Max is quite the connoisseur.

This is Jim’s favorite pizza after Italian sausage and mushroom pizza from the former Casa Roma in Miller, Gary, IN circa, the 1960’s.

Warm Spinach Salad

Today was pastel class day, so when I was showing Jim where the refrigerator was so he could make his own lunch, and where all the ingredients were for a sandwich, I mentioned that tonight was vegetarian; I got a huge frown. So I gave in and took some cod out of the freezer. I should not have as this salad was a really complete meal and just delicious. By the way, he forgot to eat lunch.  I will mention at the outset that they call for a squash called Delicata squash. I used the already cut and peeled squash from Wegman’s. To me it looks like a Hubbard Squash which I like a lot and the Delicata may be a CA only squash, could not find it.  

Squash, 1 ½ #

Olive Oil, 4 T

Salt and Pepper

Sherry or Red wine vinegar, 3T

Baby spinach, 8 oz.

Ricotta Salata or feta cheese, 4 oz, crumbled. I used the Ricotta Salata as I am not real fond of Feta, but I will eat it. The Ricotta Salata, imported, from Wegman’s was wonderful.

Toasted sliced almonds, ½ c.

So if you look over the ingredients you can see there is plenty of protein in this dish. Tonight, Jim announced that salad takes too much chewing.  Healthy eating is so hard for him.  I forgot to mention that this recipe is also from Eat Well. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I cut the larger chunks of squash smaller. Lined a 12 x 17 pan with non stick foil and put a T of olive oil, salt and pepper on them and put them in the oven for 30 minutes. The squash in the recipe took 20 minutes, but mine was not done in 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I toasted the almonds and combined them in a large salad bowl with the spinach, red wine vinegar, cheese and salt and pepper. When the squash was done, I added that to the bowl.

This was the scary part, as I have had oil catch on fire on the stove. Put 3 T of oil in a small skillet and warm. I did but it may not have been warm enough as I had no splatter from the oil hitting the cold spinach. Toss again and serve. I think it might be safer to put the oil in a deep glass measuring cup and put it in the microwave for 1 ½ minutes. But I had the cod on speed cook; that is setting on my microwave. Jim loved the dressing.

Jim served a 2005 Zinfandel, Farleigh of Livermore, CA, who used fruit (50-50) from Sonoma and SLO.

Wednesday, Chinese-style beef, sweet potatoes, and bok choy stew.

Tonight Jim got his beef fix. This was another very fragrant meal and delicious. It comes from Sunset Magazine. They really have very trusted recipes. It is kind of a stir fry hot pot kind of meal. So I did the entire chopping and dicing first and then put the wok on.


4 large garlic cloves

1 piece fresh ginger cut into chunks, 1” sq.

1/14 # beef rib-eye steak

½ t salt

1 T veg. oil

2 t Chinese five-spice powder

3 cups beef broth, I used organic from Wegman’s.

2T soy sauce, I used low sodium

12 oz. sweet potato

12 oz. baby bok choy

2 green onions

First I chopped the sweet potato in French fry shapes 1/3“ square slices, like skinny french fries, and set on the counter next to my wok.

Then I took the chopped garlic and the chopped ginger and ground it in my mini-mini food processor.

Next I cut the beef into 1/4“slices and then put half the garlic ginger and all the salt in a bowl with it.

Next I cut the bok choy in pieces, rinsed and drained in a colander. I also trimmed the green onion into 3” slivers.

Next I waited for Jim to finish his work and come back from walking Max.

Turn the wok on high with the veg. oil in it. Add the beef and stir fry for about 6 min. Remove to a new plate.

Turn the heat down a little and add the remaining garlic/ginger and Chinese 5-spice powder in the wok. Stir until fragrant and add the beef broth and soy sauce. Add the sweet potato and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Then add the bok choy and after 2 minutes add the beef back in to warm up, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the green onions and serve. Again this was for 4, but it is all gone.
Jim served an Altano Reserva 2006 wine from the Douro region of Portugal with this meal. It was excellent. It came from the Opera House Gourmet wine club in Manassas. I told him to buy more. Today was the dentist and tomorrow is school. We are doing vegetarian tomorrow. Jim always does his cheek puffing routine when meat is not involved. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, lift your spirits meal

Tonight’s meal was based on the following statement in the cookbook. “Oranges, scallops, and onions are at their best in the wintertime and these lively flavors will help brighten up a gloomy evening. If there was ever a day that I needed brightening, today was it. The recipe is called Seared Scallops with Orange and Red Onion salad. Following is the list of ingredients, but I will tell you that I did not add the green olives. I am not an olive hater. I always order my Tangueray Martinis with olives. When I told Jim I left out the olives he said, “That’s good, I will not have to explain why I am picking them all out. “


This meal was really good and I wish I had a ladies lunch bunch to feed it to. Again it serves 4, but it is gone. This is from Eat Well. I did write Williams Sonoma today to find out about the rinsing of the onions. I looked all over the internet and the only rinsing of onions I could find was before cutting and then freezing to avoid crying. I did learn that if you have really sharp knives you probably do not experience the tearing. I have really sharp knives, right Marrilyn?

Red onion, ½, thinly sliced

Rice vinegar, 1 ½ T

Oranges 3

(Mild green olives, ½ c pitted)

Olive oil, 2 T

Sea scallops, 1#

Salt and pepper

Fresh mint leaves, 2 T coarsely chopped

First slice the onion, rinse and put it is a bowl with the rice vinegar. Next, zest one of the oranges to obtain about 1 t of zest. Then peel and pith the oranges. Today all the food channels have you cut the top and bottom off and then run your knife down the sides. I learned a long time ago from Jacque Pepin, who cuts off one end and then, using a serrated knife just makes a continuous peel working around the orange. Works like a charm, but remember I have incredibly sharp knives. Right, Marrilyn? Then you combine the oranges, zest, and 1T of the olive oil.

The scallops are next. I drained them and also dried them on paper towels. Remember in the Julie and Julia movie when Julia wrote for the Beef Bourguignon to dry the beef? The same applies to the scallops. Salt and pepper them. Put the last T of oil in a skillet large enough for all scallops. Do not cook longer than 5 minutes. Over cooked scallops will taste like Octopus Sushi, which is the equivalent of rubber bands in your mouth. Finally combine the onion mixture and the oranges and arrange on the plates. Top with the scallops. Since I didn’t use the olives, I had a side dish of asparagus. I used oil this time that a friend in NC brought to me to top the asparagus. I have no idea what is in it, but the flavor was very complementary.

Monday-Southeast Asian chicken and noodles

This dish was so fragrant that you were eager to eat it. I would equate it to a stew. Again serves 4 but with Jim, no leftovers. For those counting calories, Sunset Magazine says 1 ½ cup serving is 341. This was in a section called 30 minute meals.  It was very easy.  The important part of fixing this meal is to think of it as a stir fry. Get everything ready to roll, before starting to cook. I put the water on for the noodles and then started chopping. The noodles in this case are flat rice noodles. You need 8 oz., but they only come, that I have found, in 1# bags. That’s alright, next time you don’t have to buy them.


1 ½ T veg. Oil

2 T minced garlic

8 oz. green beans cut in 2 “pieces, I used frozen

1 # chicken, I used left over thigh and breast from a previous meal

¼ c fish sauce

¼ c chicken broth

2 T sugar

2 T minced fresh ginger

3 T fresh lime juice

½ cup each of chopped fresh basil, mint and scallion

Like I said in the beginning, chop and grind everything and put it beside the wok. Measure it all out. I put all the liquid in a cup, i.e. broth, fish sauce and lime juice. I had the chopped stuff on my mats next to the stove. The water was boiling and I added the noodles. I had the wok with the veg. oil heating. I have a temp gage and when it reaches wok temp, I added the garlic, beans, chicken and ginger. Stir fry for 4 min. Then add the remaining ingredients and half the basil, mint and green onions and bring to a boil. Drain the noodles and stir into the wok and add the remaining basil, mint and green onions. Serve.

Jim thought there was too much lime; I loved the taste. But I have to admit that I really didn’t measure the lime and I forgot the sugar. I just juiced a whole lime and it was a good size. I think the sugar would have had a sweet & sour component. If you watch old Julia Child shows, she used to get out a cookie sheet and put all the ingredients needed on it. Then before she started cooking she would check the recipe. I guess I never learn.

Dinner for Sunday, my neighbor and I

Thought I was going out for dinner tonight with my neighbor, Elaine, as Jim was at our golf club eating and watching a football game. We were going to a restaurant that is not a favorite of mine, and the weather was nasty. I was on line all afternoon looking up recipes. At about 4:10 PM I decided that we needed to stay in. I called Elaine and asked if she liked black beans and shrimp. She said yes, and also she had an avocado. We were set. This again is from Eat Well by Williams Sonoma.


Black Beans & Avocado with Shrimp

Red onion ½ c finely chopped, and rinsed and drained in a fine sieve. I still have to find out why they want you to rinse the chopped onion

Black Beans, 2 cans, rinsed and drained

Lime juice, ¼ c

Olive oil 1 ½ T

Jalapeno, 1 seeded and minced. I keep a jar of sliced jalapeno in the refrigerator. After living in CA, I realized that fresh Jalapeno is so much stronger in CA. The ones in the jar are more like CA fresh.

Oregano, ¾ t

Salt

Ripe avocados, 2

Cooked, shelled medium shrimp, 1 #. I defrosted and then baked the shrimp at 400 degrees for 8 minutes in olive oil, salt and pepper

Cilantro ½ c chopped (as before I used Italian parsley)

I only made half as it was just the two of us. You basically combine it all except the avocado. Add avocados right before serving. I served the black beans and shrimp on Organic Asian Mixed Salad Greens.

This crostini had a light spread of basil pesto from Viansa in CA on it with cheese. I cut up a lovely blood Orange for each that came for Christmas from my friend Mary for each of us for dessert.

I feel like Rachael Ray. I had dinner start to finish done is less than 30 minutes. I even had time for my martini while waiting for Elaine to arrive.

At the last minute, I thought I don’t have an appetizer, so I got out some of Jim’s mixed nuts. He ate most of them when he came home in time to watch the movie with us.

Baked eggs with chives and cream

Today's blog is about breakfast.  It can be found in total on page 55, of Fine Cooking Magazine, Feb/Mar 2009.  Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day.  I don't mind breakfast as long as it comes after 10:00 AM.  Once, I tried to make breakfast before 10:00 AM and dropped a knife in my foot.  This recipe appealed to me for two reasons.  Jim likes eggs over easy (what a greasy mess), and I had the exact shallow dish shown in the photo.  They also had a side called candied bacon.  We have not found a bacon we like since Costco stopped carrying our favorite.  I remembered that I have maple sugar.  My friend Jane brought it down from PA so I could make a maple flavored, monkey bread.  So instead of using maple syrup and brown sugar, I put three pieces of bacon on a microwave pan and sprinkled on about 2 t of the maple sugar.  The bacon was good. 
The baked eggs with chives and cream were perfect.  Start by placing the rack in the middle of the oven and heating the over to 425 degrees.  I used spray butter and coated the gratin dishes.  Break 2 eggs in each dish.  Coat the eggs with 1T each of heavy cream and l 1/2 t of chives.  I used freeze dried.  Place in the oven for 5 minutes.  Then without opening the door, turn off the oven and turn the broiler on high for 2 minutes longer. 
Breakfast went like this:

ME:  These are really good, right?
Jim:   Grunted something
ME:  The yokes are perfectly done and the whites tender.
Jim:   Same grunt
ME:  The maple sugar makes this bacon edible.  
Jim:   Grunted again
ME:  Gave up and enjoyed my breakfast.

But after we finished he asked if this would be my blog today, and I answered yes as he is going to some guy/football thing at the club and would not be here for dinner.  He asked what this was called and I said Shirred Eggs.  We then went into spelling and pronunciation and what the word meant.  Then I looked at the recipe again, and they were not called Shirred Eggs at all, but were cooked like other egg recipes I had done that were called by that name.  So I said let's consult Julia.  Well to my surprise Julia says the following:
"A shirred egg is one that is broken into a small, flat, buttered dish and cooked quickly under the broiler."  Here is the kicker.
"Shirred eggs should never be attempted in the oven as it toughens them."  I still say these eggs were fabulous. 
The full menu in the magazine includes a sour cream coffee cake, but I didn't have any sour cream and so we had Wolferman's Muffins instead. If you have not had Wolferman's Muffins, you should try them.  They are not gummy like the Thomas'.  I once made muffins using a James Beard recipe.  These are as close to homemade as there is.  I have never lived anywhere where they were sold in a store.  But they are easily ordered on the internet.  We were first introduced to them by Jim's mother.  Our latest batch came from Jim's brother and sister-in-law as a Christmas present.  So look them up, Wolferman's, not my brother in law, and order some.  They come in a large variety of flavors and freeze well.      

Saturday night

I can blog early today as we are going to friends for dinner.  I am bringing dessert.  I have made this before.  It is delicious, light and easy.  It comes from the Jacques Pepin, More Fast Food My Way.  You can never go wrong using a Jacques Pepin recipe. 
This is called Sauteed Stuffed Figs with Blueberries.  Serves 4

12 dried Figs
12 walnut halves
2 T unsalted butter
1/2 c fruity white wine.(   Jim gave me a dry Riesling)
1/3 c honey
1 c blueberries.

Cut the figs in half and press 1 wanlunt into each half.  Embed it well. 
Melt butter in a medium nonstick saucepan and add the wine and honey.  Arrange the figs, walnut side up and bring to a boil.  Cover and boil gently for about 2 minutes or until the mixture is syrupy and the figs are glazed. 

Let them cool to room temperature.  Arrange on a platter, again walnut side up and pour the sauce over the figs.  Sprinkle the blueberries on top.  According to Dr. Oz blueberries keep you young.   
Bon Appetite
Linda 

Friday morning and night

Yesterday, I finally recieved the last of the ingredients that I could not find locally to make Dr. Oz's Brain Boosting Smoothie.  My Mother has severe dementia, maybe Altzheimers.  I've told Jim to shoot me if I end up like that.  So when Dr. Oz had this on TV, I went for it.

1 banana
1/4 c blueberries, I used frozen
1 handful of hemp nuts
1/2 cup of apple juice
1 t of rhodiola rosea

Throw in the blender and you end up with blue hands, teeth and tongue.  The hemp nuts and the rhodiola rosea were hard to find locally and I got them through Amazon.  It is winter so, the blueberries were frozen.  It tasted good.   If you want to know what all this does for you, sign on to Dr. Oz's website.  The hemp nuts came from a vegan organic grower in CA.  I'm thinking of adding it to bread.  The Rhodiola Rosea, I would like to find locally; it cost $15 for a very small bottle from Amazon.  Will let you know if I get smarter. 

Dinner was again from Williams Sonoma Eat Well.  Perfect for today.  We had ice, sleet, snow, sun and then freezing.  So I said soup was perfect.   Rachael Ray sometimes calls things "Stoup."  She says that it is a combo between Stew and Soup.  That is a perfect discreption of this. 

wild rice, 1/2 cup
sesame oil 1T
vegetable oil 1 T
yellow onion, 1 chopped
fresh ginger 1T minced
garlic, 2 cloves, minced
chicken broth 4 c
carrots, they said one.  Who uses one carrot.  I used 4, but I would use more. 
3 bone in chicken breasts
2 bone in chicken thighs
white rice, 1/2 c
green onions, 1/4 c  thinly sliced
cilantro, I do not like it so I used Italian parsley, 1/4 c
salt and pepper to taste

You cook the wild rice separately in 2 cups of water for 50 minutes.  After it is finished, left it in the water on the stove until needed, then drain.  I put saltand pepper in the water. 

Use a soup pot and add both oils.  Cook the onion for about 5 minutes.  Some ask, "What size onion?"  I say if you like onion, bigger; if you don't, smaller.  I always use sweet onions.  Then add garlic and ginger; I used a rasper to mince both.  When fragrant, then add the chicken broth, 2 cups of water, all chicken, carrots, and the white rice.  After it comes to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove the chicken and cut into bite size pieces.  Add back to the pot with wild rice, green onions and in my case, Italian parsley.

Jim said I should state the wine we have for the meals.  We had a CA Merlot.  It was young so he used his aerator pouring into a "ship carafe."  It was good.   

Jim ate his "stoup" with Saltines.  I had mine as cooked.  On his second bowl he said he needed salt.  I said that Dr. Oz today said that you should have only 1t of salt a day.  I thought his Saltines were supplying it.  He backed off.

I am going to keep eating Dr. Oz's Smoothie until I get smarter.  See if you can tell the difference.    

Dinner Thursday

Since I e-mailed all my friends about the starting of the blog (after I figured it out, sort of), I have received several that say we are on a diet and please let me know when you have healthy input.  All eating is healthy that you cook at home and as someone who has been on a diet (on and off) since grade school, you'll be screaming for chocolate by mid February.  Julia said it best.  Nothing is bad for you.  You just need to have it in moderation.  Of course, Julia was 6' 2".  Jim is 6' 2".  When you are 6' 2", there is a different reality than 5' 2". 
Today was the first day of my new pastel classes.  For some reason after I retired I chose pastel as my medium.  I think it was because when I worked in the ID field, I spent years drawing with pens, pencils, and magic markers before it was all turned to computer drawing.  Brushes feel alien in my hand and I hate the smell of oil paint.  Acrylic paint drys too  fast and you can smudge around.  So even though I announced that Food is my passion, I have a second passion, art and design.  My class starts at 12:30 and lasts till 3:00 PM.  Those of you in the DC area know that the return commute for Occoquan to Gainesville is the equivalent of hell.  So dinner had to be simple but good tonight.
I happen to love Chilean Sea Bass.   It may be on one of those endangered lists right now, but I love it.  So that was the main course for tonight.  Jim hates CSB only because it cost a lot more than steak per pound, and his three food groups are bacon, eggs and steak.  So we had CSB, green beans and crostini.  Let me explain how it was so simple.
 
Chilean Sea Bas.  I have a lame Advantium speed cook oven.  Martha has good ones that she promotes on her show.  However, when we bought this house, Alton Brown was promoting these GE ovens, and I added the only loser GE model that Lennar offered.  That said, it does a great job with fish.  It does not list all fish, so just go to the one that may look like what you are cooking.  The weight you have will also never match, so I undercook.  I hate overcooked fish.  To make it better, I sprinkle it with Penzey's Trinidad lemon-garlic marinade.  When we moved to VA (I think the second Christmas), our friends the Nuckols gave us a marinade group of spices from Penzey's.  We fell in love with Trinidad for fish. 

Green Beans.  If you want to cook really good green beans go to page 443 of Julia's book.  If you are in a hurry, listen.   First buy French cut cleaned Green Beans.  Mine come from Wegman's.  If you want to cut the tops off green beans, in my opinion, they had better be fresh from the garden.  If Jim wants to save money at the market, then he needs to hire an assistant for me to do the grunt work.  They are in a 1 1/2# package.  I rinse and put the whole thing in the microwave on the fresh vegetable setting for the quantity.  Salt liberally before microwaving.  After they are done, they will be moist.  Put a wok on the stove on high with orange olive oil.  Throw in the beans and stir fry.  Julia uses butter; I use Orange Olive Oil.  Why, I do not know, except I love the orange flavor with the green beans.  Stir fry until warm and what is left over put in a vacu-bag and save for the next leftover night.  Sprinkle with almonds before serving.  Others may ask where do I get orange olive oil. I am a nut about good olive oil.  I buy my Olive Oil from Sciabica's in Modesto, CA.  I first met Joseph Sciabica in the Farmer's Market in Pleasanton, CA back in 1997. Charming gentleman and really knows his olive oil.  He introduced me to Manzanillo, Fall Harvest. You can access them on the internet and their flavored olive oils which I have just expermented with over the years. I have nothing against Julia's Haricots Verts a l'Anglaise, but I like my heart healthy orange olive oil green beans also.


Crostini.  Potatoes seemed over kill tonight, so I cut 6- 1/4" slices of french bread.  Toasted in the broiler and turned over.  On the second side I sprinkled Salad Elegant Seasoning, also from Penzeys, and Parmaesian cheese.  Return to broiler.  Bottom line it is healthy and fast.  It took me longer to set the table and find two flat pans which are stored way over my head, than to make the meal. 
 

Wednesday-Dog Food Day

Today was dog food day.  Yes, my dog Max does not eat dog food.  He eats people food as he is allgeric to additives in dog food.  Max is 7, so I have been doing this for a long time.  When he was a puppy, he started ripping his fur out.  I took him to the Vet and she said that her guess was that he was allergic to the additives in dog food.  Now I was feeding him a very good brand of dog food that we had discovered when our Canyon was having trouble with hot spots.  I was given two options.  Pay $900 for tests or go home and make dog food and see if it went away.  Her recommendation was rabbit, duck or turkey.  She said our beef and chicken are also loaded with "additives."  Neither of us are hunters, so rabbit was out.  I was not going to buy duck for Max, so turkey it was.  I already had a lot of dog food cookbooks and of course gathered more.  I now have it down to a 28 day cycle.  Unless we have appropriate leftovers, I make what I call 28 meatballs for Max at a time.  It is a tremendous amount of product so I do it when Jim can help.
This recipe for 28 days is for a 70 pound dog.
6# ground turkey
4 c rice. ( I use Japanese rice called Rosas)
4 cans of diced tomatoes
4 cans of green beans
4 cans of sardines
4 # of mixed veg.
You can't just buy mixed veg.  Max can not tolerate corn and you can't give them onions.  Most mixed vegtables in the frozen food section contain onions.  Also watch out for garlic.  Our favorite for him is California blend.  We used to use Normandy blend at Costco, but we had to do too much chopping.  Here CA blend is only available at Shoppers.  Sometimes if I am in a hurry, I just buy in separate bags, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, squash, and greenbeans.  I now use frozen to save money.  I used to do all fresh.  Do you know that the first time I used frozen veg, he looked at me like I was a killer.  I told him get over it, a lot of dogs are eating crappy dog food from China that is on sale that week in the market.
Anyway we have it down to a science as it is the only meal that I make over and over and I promise not to mention it again.
Today we went to the movies to see It's Complicated.  It was great.  We came home and starteed making dog food.  Jim opened up a bottle of wine to make it less stressful.  Huge pots, lots of stirring and packaging is like being on an assembly line in a factory.  Plus the cleanup!  We got the first batch done by 6:10 PM.  Max likes to eat at exactly 5:30PM.  I fed him from the first batch and when he gets his "meatball"  I add fruit and yoghurt.  Tonight he had canned peaches.  Mostly he eats apples, but his favorite is blueberries. 
I have been critized for doing all this for Max.  "He eats better than most children."  But I once figured that I feed my dog for $1.25 a day.  We buy most of it at Costco.  Although Costco, if you are listening, I do not like your latest vendor for ground turkey.  It has something that makes it wetter and we have to strain the mixture before adding it to the rice.
So what did the people do for dinner?  We went to Bertucci's.  I don't know if you have a Bertucci's in your area, but it is really, really good pizza.         

Tuesday

Not so good.  I made salmon burgers with zesty aioli sauce from the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook.  I also made a Cabbage Salad with Apples and Walnuts.  I got this one from the Washington Post.  I liked the Cabbage Salad.  But the best I can say is that it used up left over cabbage.  I made it as I had apples, walnuts and left over cabbage from another meal.  The dressing was good.  I am not going to repeat the recipe as it was not great.  It will not go into Linda's Recipe File, it will go in the round one.  Jim said, "When I was little, we used to have a lot of salmon burgers.  Is it because the are cheap?"  I said I do not know, but this is from canned salmon and if your family didn't fish, it was a way to get fish in your diet.  I have to say that I have been very fond of the recipes in this cookbook, except this one.  It was not bad, but extremely filling and not exciting.  I will report it as I see it.  I am so full I might evern sleep through the night with the heat pump my neighbor installed under our bedroom window that grinds away all night. 
I do have a comment for those of you on the East Cost.  If you buy a jalepeno pepper and add it to a recipe in CA, it will have a whole different impact than a "fresh" jalapeno in VA, PA,or IN.  Two years ago while in TN, at Turkey day, we made Martha's corn bread in my Turkey Mold.  Jo, Jim's cousin had jalepeno peppers in a jar from the grocery store.  They were just like in CA.  I use nothing but the ones in a jar at the market now.  They have the punch needed.   

Dinner on Monday

I am so happy, I found my original blog again.  Bear with me I am new at this.  Anyway last night we had Garlic-Basil Shrimp.  It was fabulous.  It comes from a book called So Easy.  You can probably find it on line as the author is on FoodTV.  Cook a cup of Orzo.  You will have 3 cups cooked. 
For the Sauce
2T Olice oil
1 1/4 # large shrimp
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 t crushed red pepper
3/4 c white wine
one container of grape tomatoes halved
1/4 c fresh basil chopped
salt and pepper

Start the water for the Orzo.  Takes 11 minutes to cook.  Slice, chop and mine everything and have all ingredients near the stove.  Heat the oil.  Add Shrimp.  Cook 2 minutes.  Set shrimp aside.  Add garlic and pepper to the oil.  When fragrant add the wine, tomatoes and basil.  Cook 3 minutes.  Add the shrimp back in to warm and serve over the orzo. 

Says it serves 4 but we ate it all. 

Sunday Night

I have a new cookbook given to me by my friend Sandy.  It is called Eat Well by Williams-Sonoma.  Sandy always works for Williams-Sonoma over Christmas and according to her husband never brings a dime home.  This year she bought herself all new All Clad cookware.  Anyway, I have made several dinners from this book and they are all great.  Last Friday I asked Jim whether he wanted to have a Tofu meal or go to the Club.  We went to the Club, so last night was Tofu night.  This meal just screams health. 
First get out your wok and bamboo steamers.  Chop up 3/4 pound of savoy cabbage.  Place in steamer and put in wok over boiling water for 7 minutes or until wilted.  Fill the next basket with 6 oz of spinach leaves and 1 lb. of firm tofu cut in one inch cubes.  Add to wok and steam about 5 minutes longer. 
Make the peanut sauce.  Combine 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter, 1/2 c. light coconut milk, 3 T fresh lime juice, 2Tbrown sugar, 1 1/2 T soy sauce and 2t Asian red chile paste in a blender.  Process until smooth and put in a bowel.  I arranged the cabbage, spinach, and tofu on a platter and passed the peanut sauce.  This is supposed to feed 4, but Jim ate it all complaining all the way.  To round out the meal I was going to serve these wonderful blood oranges that my friend Mary sends from Florida, but Jim had enough of the healthy and had his orange slices with chocolate ice cream. 

Sunday Morning, more or less

Today is Sunday.  After deciding we had way too much wine last night, I made bacon and French toast.  Please if  you read this blog write Costco and ask them to bring back their Maple flavored bacon.  Since they stopped carrying it, I've tried every brand in almost every store and can't find a replacement.  If you have a good tasting one, send it to me.  But after trying a million French Toast recipes, we like the following the best.  To start you need to have the wonderful Brioche loaf that is made by Miels Bakery in Marlton, NJ.  Second to traveling to NJ is the Brioche loves made only on weekends by Wegman's.  If you live in a section of the country were you can not obtain good Brioche, move.  The recipe I use is on page 587 of the Joy of Cooking.  My edition was printed in 1972.  I mix 2 eggs, 1/2 t. salt, 1 c skim milk and a splash of vanilla.  I cut 6 1" slices  and lay in a pyrex rectangular dish.  Depending on your loaf, choose your pan accordingly.  The little loafs from Wegman's take a different size pan to soak the bread.  I then poor the egg mixture over the bread and wait for it to be soaked up.  Turning it a couple times.  I ccok them all at once on a grille that lays across two burners.  Cook until you see browning on the bread. 
However if you can't get Brioche and don't want to move a good but more complicated French toast is in The Deen Bros. Cookbook, Recipes from the Road.  For this recipe I use Costco Innkeeper's 8 grain bread.  Note to Costco, do not discontinue this product.  This is very rich.  They say that 12 pieces serves 6 people.  I can only eat one.  To start wisk together 1 cup of light brown sugar and 1 stick of butter.  Spread it in a large rimmed baking pan.  If you are making all 12 slices, I have to divide into two pans.  Then wisk together 1 1/2 cups of milk, I use skim, they say whole.  2 eggs, 1 t. vanilla 3/4 t of cinnamon, pinch of salt and cayenne pepper.  Place the bread, 12 slices on the pan and poor the egg mixture over.  Soak for 1/2 hour or if making for company, I have done it before going to bed and it is ready to go in the AM.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate if making the night before.  Cook in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes, turning it halfway through.  I serve this with fresh berries and scrambled eggs on the side when we have company.  I never make this one for just the two of us. 

Saturday Night

Went to a great party last night.  Everyone brought a dish.  I brought dessert.  The recipe is in January's Bon Appetit.  It is called Chocolate-Nut Tart with dried fruit.  It is in the Healthy bites section.  I find it hard to believe that a 405 calorie, 29 fat gram per slice dessert is good for me, but you only live once.  It was unbelievably easy.  If you have never made a pie or tart before, you will be successful.  First you need a 10 dia. tart pan with a removable bottom.  Next from the refrigerator you take a Pillsbury premade pie crust.  You only need one so freeze the other half for later.  They keep indefinately.  I've tried other pre-made crusts, but I think this one tastes the best.  Place it in the tart pan and prick all over with a fork to keep the bottom from puffing up.  Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes until golden.  Cool on a rack.  After it is cool spread on the bottom 1/4 cup of preserves.  BA said raspberry, I used 2T of fig and 2T of ginger instead.  Next warm 1/2 cup of cream on the stove and add 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips, bittersweet not the semisweet.  Wisk until smooth and shinning.  You have just made a ganache.  Add a cup of nuts and a cup of dried fruit.  For the nuts I used 1/3 of pecans, almonds, and pistachios.  The diried fruit was a 5 oz. package of mixed berrieds I bought at Target.  Instead of toffee bits in the recipe, I sprinkled the top with 1/4 cup of sweetened coconut and 1/4 cup of crystallized ginger.  I served each slice with a dallop of freshly made whipped cream (heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla) and fresh raspberries and black berries. 
The other guests supplied the main dish, beef, scalloped potatoes(BA, Nov 2009, page 122) carrots, salad appetizers and wonderful mushroom soup course served in a very elligant manner.  So, Saturday night was filled with delightful conversation and great food.